Ave Maria Loses Opener to Cumberlands 11-3; Mazurczak 2G, Durr 13 Saves in Loss
via Ave Maria website/press release
Lacrosse Season Opens Against Cumberlands
AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes lost their season opener Monday afternoon falling to the University of the Cumberlands Patriots 11-3. The Gyrenes played well defensively, but had trouble establishing a presence in the offensive zone.
On the first possession for the Patriots, junior goalie Emily Durr got her first save of the year snagging a low shot.
On the ensuing Gyrene possession, Alexandra Mazurczak scored the first goal of the season for the Gyrenes. The freshman from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, made a nice spin move to lose her defender and then beat the Patriots’ goalie on the left side of the net.
The Gyrenes enjoyed the lead for a little bit, but then the Patriots opened up the floodgates. UC scored the next seven goals to take a 7-1 lead into halftime. The Patriots outshot the Gyrenes 15-6 following the AMU goal and controlled the ball for most of the first half.
Halfway into the third quarter, the Gyrenes got back on the board with Mazurczak scoring again. Ave Maria tried to flip the momentum following the goal, but UC responded with two of their own to lead 9-2 at the end of the frame.
UC continued to add on to their lead in the fourth quarter scoring two more goals. Abigail Seiler scored the final goal of the game for Ave Maria, assisted by Hannah Shaffrey. Seiler entered the season with the fourth most career goals in program history, and is looking to continue her climb up the leaderboard. Shaffrey entered the season with the most career assists in Ave Maria history and is looking to make the record untouchable for a while.
The bright side for the Gyrenes was Durr in between the pipes making 13 saves. That is a career high for the junior from Cincinnati, Ohio, and the most saves made against the Cumberlands, who entered the game ranked fifth in the country, in the three games they have played this season. The down side was UC getting more than double the looks at the net than the Gyrenes had and scoring on 11 of them.
With the loss, Ave Maria starts the season 0-1. The will take the field next Monday, March 8, hosting the #8 Marian Knights. The game can be streamed on the Sun Digital Network.
